Statistically this meant that Fishnet carried two votes through to the judging round. Morally, the three top books were incredibly close. A lot depended on the judges’ decision. I was worried that I might even have to use my casting vote – and wasn’t keen to do so, since I couldn’t choose between the three top books.

I’d have been happy to see any one win. At the risk of trotting out a worn cliche, I have to say that it’s a shame that they can’t all be winners – the public vote provided an excellent top three. In fact, each novel on our shortlist this year had something to recommend it. There wasn’t a stinker among them, and there was a lot of very impressive writing.

But, of course, a decision did have to be made. Fortunately, we had three excellent judges to do the job. In the event, Benjamin Judge opted for Shame, Alexandra Masters opted for The Good Son and Lorraine Berry for Fishnet. This meant that Fishnet had three votes out of five and my life was considerably easier. We had a winner – and one that everyone could agree to be an excellent choice.

Fishnet is a fine novel. It possibly wasn’t the most polished and complete literary work on the list, but there is some excellent writing in there, as well as real emotional and political urgency. It’s gripping, it’s humane and it’s the kind of novel that can actually make you investigate your own prejudices and opinions. I know it challenged a few of my ideas about prostitution and the vulnerability (or otherwise) of sex workers. When I wrote about it earlier, I even said that I thought it was important. Immediately afterwards, I had a pang of doubt. Had I gone too far? Can a novel like this one really make a difference?

Now that a few weeks have passed and I’ve seen the reactions of other readers to the book, I’d stand by those words. It’s a book that really moves people and really makes them think. It feels like a novel that has the potential to make a difference to a lot of lives – if only enough people read it. Hopefully this victory will help to make that possible. I hope that this book is spread far and wide – and I’m proud to have been involved in a prize that can ignite that process.